Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
The Earthquaker Devices Hizumitas is basically the same as the Elk Sustainar, but with a 3n3 cap instead of a 330pf cap in the tone control (specifically the high pass filter). There are some other minor differences, but the 3n3 is probably the biggest factor in terms of sound. Even though the EQD Hizumitas … Read more
I thought while I was at the Dead Astronaut X Rock, I may as well do an X Fuzz… It’s a nice easy pedal build, with some big sounding results. DEAD ASTRONAUT X FUZZ – VERO LAYOUT
The first version of the Death By Audio Fuzz War is notoriously tricky to clone – this is the second version, which is a modded Jumbo Tone Bender with a tweaked tone stack. So, in other words, it’s a modded Big Muff. Schematic / build docs at PedalPCB DEATH BY AUDIO FUZZ WAR V2 – VERO … Read more
The Colorsound Bass Fuzz is a Big Muff style circuit, missing a pair of diodes and the gain recovery stage, not unlike a Jumbo Tone Bender. Caps have been enlarged to suit the bass guitar. COLORSOUND BASS FUZZ – VERO LAYOUT
I used Kit Rae schematics, but I did not follow the same component numbering, as I don’t find it all that intuitive. Kit did it that way for a good reason, this way works better for my brain. There’s also this excellent post by Kit Rae on the EHX forum, broadly describing differences between versions. … Read more
The Ibanez Overdrive OD-850 is an early Japanese Big Muff variation, almost a straight clone if it wasn’t for the usual tone stack. It’s also known as the Maxon D&S OD-801 – either way, both classic guitar effects from Japan. The tone stack fixes the bass response to some degree, providing a more even sweep across the range. … Read more
This has now been traced by Aion FX – it turns out the NG-3 is very different to the NG-2. Miles apart… While this still makes for a decent fuzz, it’s NOT a NG-3. Layouts have been removed for this reason. Here’s the link to the trace The Pete Cornish NG-3 is pretty much the … Read more
It has now been traced by Aion FX – updated layout can be found here. The Pete Cornish P-2 is somewhat of a mystery as it’s never been traced, so all information is gleamed and guessed from various sources. It seems that no one, including myself, wants to pay top dollar to de-goop what we all … Read more
The Pete Cornish G-2 is a Big Muff variant: germanium diodes, double buffered, and sporting a low-pass filter instead of the usual Big Muff tone stack. That being said, this is not your standard Big Muff – there’s little resemblance in sound, largely due to the lack of scooped mid-range provided by a standard Big … Read more
After the Thorpy Fallout Cloud, I thought I might do another bax Big Muff. The Catalinbread Manx Loaghtan pre-dates Thorpy’s by quite a few years. The same basic idea, take a Big Muff and swap out the single tone control for a baxandall tone stack. CATALINBREAD MANX LOAGHTAN – VERO LAYOUT EQ CURVES